Chiller Plumbing Restriction
- Thread starter d2mini
- Start date
slief
RC Sponsor
Ya, that's a really old pic but you got it.
I have a cheap ball valve sitting here I'll probably use for now and stick it right above the red chair rail on that vertical run of pipe. Will take just a few mins like you said. I'll be doing a redesign of my garage setup so it's just temporary.
The chiller loop returns and feeds the refugium, which then flows back into the sump.
D2, I think you are on the right track. Best thing about going that route is eliminating a pump which reduces power and a heat source. Also one less point of failure. Given your return pump, I think that is the most prudent thing to do along with increasing the plumbing sizes in and out of your chiller. The bigger the better.
Great info right there! When I ran my chiller lines which are about 100' in total, I used 1" flex PVC and no elbows in our out of the chiller. Fortunately, my chiller inlets and outlets are on the side of the chiller as opposed to on top so there was no need for elbows. Any unions and ball valves were 2" which were then reduced down. My goal was to reduce resistance as much as possible since it was a long run. In fact, any unions and valves anywhere on my system are over sized and reduced down. Not sure how much of a difference that makes but it's something I always do as a matter of practice. I figured you were referring to Freon in a more general way but just in case, I thought I would point it out. Most people don't would know what R-12 or R-134 is so I can understand the thinking and even find myself doing that from time to time.
Sorry for the "porn". A visual always helps! :beer:
Something went wrong in a breaker right above that picture. Now were trying to overnight a new breaker. That chiller cools a restaurant and a 40,000 gallon Amazon Basin aquarium. It just went into alarm at 85.05 and I'm going to be doing water changes because the new water is cooler. And I'm going to run the waterfalls harder.
I've been stuck in my office all morning looking at that.
Engineering Toolbox-Schedule 40 Friction Loss VS Velocity Charts
Texas Paul
In Memoriam
Dennis - I'll sell you a brand new Iwaki 100 MDRLT cheap. They were too loud for me. If you have a place to put it in the system so you can use your DC pump as a charge pump to prime it (and keep things quiet around the DT), that may be an option.
I love playing with that thing. Something to remember is you have to count all the pipe, both sides of the pump. But you get to subtract the suction side. Take that 2" with the gold pump. The center of the impeller could be 3 feet below the waterline in the rubbermaid. So if you have 7 feet to the center of the highest pipe point, from the center of the impeller...and you have calculated 3 feet of head from ALL the pipe... you get to take that 3 feet back off because the rubbermaid water level is 3 feet above the impeller. Now at 7 feet on the Mag12 curve your at 900 GPH.
The pump curves for the ReefCentral Head Loss Calculator are in The Library at reefs.org. Or most pump makers should have it available. Or you could even set up a test rig with not much more than a stopwatch and a good pressure gauge.
slief
RC Sponsor
This is with the Reeflo now? Definitely have to loose those 1/2 fittings regardless. They are a major bottleneck.
d2mini
Premium Member
Yep, that's with the reeflo!
I basically saw no real measurable difference throttling it back.
I have ordered the replacement chiller fittings, just waiting for them to come in.
Also ordered some 1" flex pvc to replace the 3/4" pvc but not sure if I'm going to bother with that now or wait until i figure out what I'm doing in there later this year.
I basically saw no real measurable difference throttling it back.
I have ordered the replacement chiller fittings, just waiting for them to come in.
Also ordered some 1" flex pvc to replace the 3/4" pvc but not sure if I'm going to bother with that now or wait until i figure out what I'm doing in there later this year.
slief
RC Sponsor
If you have the lines, you might as well run them and do it right sooner rather than later. That way when you get your 1/2 HP chiller, all you need to do is plug it in and hook it up.
slief
RC Sponsor
I know this is a silly question but do you have the chiller plumbed with the flow going to right direction? While I wouldn't think that would make much if any difference, I have always plumbed my chillers per the instructions. I have a hard time with the fact that the correct sized fittings are restricting flow that much. Unless the previous owner ran all kinds of dirty water through it and it's actually clogged. In over 20 years of using chillers, this would be a first that I've ever seen. Flooding it with vinegar and letting it soak and a good flushing afterwards may be the next step. That or plumbing 1" lines to and from the chiller and adapting them down at the chiller. What happens if you gate the return line down further? The 3/4" tubing should be sufficient although it's not going to be ideal for long loop like that and that could ultimately be the bottleneck. Are you sure you don't have a collapsed line anywhere?
d2mini
Premium Member
Yep, it's plumbed with the correct flow direction.
And closing off the ball valve return to the tank completely doesn't even seem to make any difference. According to that flow chart, I should be getting at least 3x the flow I'm getting now even with the long run of pipe, head height, elbows, etc.
It's perplexing. Definitely seems like there would be a clog somewhere.
One thing I did notice when doing that little bit of cutting/plumbing is that the inside of my pipes are covered in a thin layer of brown calcium carbonate. And it's a rough texture so that is adding friction. Still seems like there would be a more substantial clog somewhere. Maybe I will go ahead and try the vinegar thing to clean out the chiller. Might as well.
And closing off the ball valve return to the tank completely doesn't even seem to make any difference. According to that flow chart, I should be getting at least 3x the flow I'm getting now even with the long run of pipe, head height, elbows, etc.
It's perplexing. Definitely seems like there would be a clog somewhere.
One thing I did notice when doing that little bit of cutting/plumbing is that the inside of my pipes are covered in a thin layer of brown calcium carbonate. And it's a rough texture so that is adding friction. Still seems like there would be a more substantial clog somewhere. Maybe I will go ahead and try the vinegar thing to clean out the chiller. Might as well.
d2mini
Premium Member
So last night I was able to run a vinegar solution through the chiller for about 1-2 hours before the tank started getting too warm. After running it for a bit the water in the bucket looked like my skimmer! But I don't think it made much of a difference. I should run the vinegar through again though... to see if it continues to pull gunk out.
slief
RC Sponsor
I'd also run it through your lines as well if you are not already doing so. While I don't think this is the root cause, anything in the lines that creates a rough surface inside them will generate head loss. That said, if you are using the 3/4" lines over the full run, I'd suspect that could be part of the issue. I'd upsize them to 1" as I said before. It's obviously a very long run to and from your chiller and I just don't think the 3/4" is really a large enough diameter to give any breathing room. In my case, I have a 50' run in each direction to and from my chiller and I plumbed mine with 1" flex PVC which allows for plenty of flow.
One thing you could try is temporarily relocating your chiller to the garage to see if your long plumbing run is the root of your flow restriction which at this point I think it is. If the flow is sufficient with the chiller in close proximity to the pump and sump which I suspect it will be, you will either need to upgrade your plumbing size to and from the chiller or relocate the chiller closer to the return pump and sump.
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